In the United Kingdom, life expectancy is increasing at the rate of six weeks every year; 11 million people alive today—17.6 per cent of the UK population—can expect to live to be more than 100.*

“Supersoldiers” with exoskeletons can run at 10 miles per hour and cover 200 miles in a day.**

Unprecedented advances in health care, neuroscience, technology, computing, nanotechnology and learning begin to allow human beings to expand their physical and mental faculties, with the range of possibilities including enhanced longevity, improved IQ and learning abilities and the restoration of hearing and vision. Early signs of this included President Obama’s $100 million BRAIN initiative to advance the study of the nature of the brain, particularly how brain function is linked with behavior, learning and mental disease. But potential innovations in cognitive capacity also pose new regulatory and ethical challenges for government, social institutions and international organizations.